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Dogs Guide Study In Kindness

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By RONNIE BLAIR

rblair@tampatrib.com

Published: January 29, 2009

SHADY HILLS - Guts, an 11-year-old German shepherd, doesn't move as quickly as he once did, but he still knows how to turn on the charm.

The affable canine wowed students this week at Shady Hills Elementary School, where he paid a visit to teacher Kathi Jackson's class along with his owner, dog trainer Michelle Melady.

Students took turns walking Guts, giving him treats and petting him as they also learned some important lessons on how to interact with a strange dog, how to best care for their pets and the responsibility that comes with being a pet owner.

It was hands-on learning right out of the Rin Tin Tin curriculum.

"The students will learn so much more from this than from reading a book," Jackson said.
Florida law requires that schools teach students about kindness to animals, although the statute offers no specifics on how to do this or how much time to spend on the subject.

"It's up to your interpretation," Jackson said.

Jackson, a dog lover, likes to put in extra effort meeting the requirement, so she booked a series of speakers, including representatives from Pasco County Animal Services and the Humane Society of the Nature Coast.

She also enlisted Melady of Spring Hill, whose specialty is dog behavior issues. Melady visits clients in their homes, where her focus is as much on the pet owners as the pets.

"It's really human training," Melady said.

Heidi, Jackson's 4-year-old Sheltie mix, came to the classroom with Melady and took part in the demonstrations.

Also on hand was a new addition to Melady's family, Odin, a 9-week-old German shepherd dog that Melady and her husband, Keith, bought from a breeder.

"We just picked him up" Monday, Melady said.

Placing so much emphasis on the "kindness to animals" curriculum comes naturally for Jackson, who owns three dogs, all of which were once shelter dogs. In addition to Heidi, the others are Nikki, a Pomeranian, and Sadie, an American Eskimo dog.

Jackson weaves her enthusiasm for dogs into the classroom activities in many ways. Students in her class are divided into three reading groups, with each group named for the breeds of her dogs - the Shelties, the Pomeranians and the American Eskimos.

This summer Jackson plans to travel to Utah, where she will spend a week volunteering at Dogtown, the animal sanctuary that takes in special-needs dogs, cats and other animals from shelters and rescue groups across the country.

Dogtown is featured on a National Geographic Channel television series.

"I can't wait," Jackson said. "I am so excited."

In preparation for that big event, Jackson's class decided to sponsor one of the dogs at Dogtown. The question became: which dog out of more than 200 possibilities listed on the Dogtown Web site?

Jackson turned the selection into a lesson in persuasive writing. She had all of her students pen an essay making the case for one of the animals. Savannah Breseman, 8, came through with the best essay and the class is sponsoring the dog she championed.

Most of the children in Jackson's class said they have dogs at home. Millena Parker, 9, one of the students who took a turn walking Guts, said she has four dogs: Peewee, Gizmo, Bear and Corona.

Jacob Ruiz, 8, doesn't own a dog, but his grandmother has two - Rocky and Dolly - and he has walked them on visits to her house.

"I tell it to follow me and it does," Jacob said.

Guts did, too.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218.

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